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The City of Carlsbad is apparently cracking down on the roving gangs of e-bikers who continually swerve through our city streets by adding some new rules of the road for the underage electric motorcycle riders.<\/p>\n
What are these new rules? Well, things like “always ride with care,” no passengers “on handlebars,” don’t ride “on sidewalks,” and rather than scaring the bejeezus out of dog-walking pedestrians by blasting past them on the city’s trail systems, e-bikers must now “get off their e-bike on trails less than 5 feet wide when they’re within 50 feet of a pedestrian.” Get out your tape measures.<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to see how the Carlsbad Police department will enforce these new rules. For the official word from the City along with a list of e-bike info sources, please follow the jump.<\/p>\n
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New e-bike rules to address concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n The Carlsbad City Council voted to update is local laws to make it easier to enforce the safe and considerate use of e-bikes, scooters and other similar ways of getting around town. The changes allow police to issue citations, but also allow first time violators to avoid penalty if they agree to take a safety course put on by the Police Department.<\/p>\n Who is affected?<\/strong> What are the rules?<\/strong> Why the change?<\/strong> More e-bike safety efforts<\/strong> Next steps<\/strong> More information The City of Carlsbad is apparently cracking down on the roving gangs of e-bikers who continually swerve through our city streets by adding some new rules of the road for the underage electric motorcycle riders. What are these new rules? Well, things like “always ride with care,” no passengers “on handlebars,” don’t ride “on sidewalks,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,48,37,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13830"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13835,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13830\/revisions\/13835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe updated ordinance covers a variety of motorized mobility devices including e-bikes, electrically motorized boards, low-speed vehicles, motorized scooters, shared electric scooters and other similar vehicles. It doesn\u2019t apply to the type of mobility devices that people with disabilities use to get around.<\/p>\n
\nSpecifically, the ordinance says riders
\nHave a duty to always ride with care and to reduce speed when needed for safety
\nCan\u2019t have passengers on handlebars or back bike racks that aren\u2019t specifically made for additional riders
\nCan\u2019t operate or ride an e-bike or similar motorized device on sidewalks, public drainage facilities, culverts, ditches, channels, or any public athletic or sports court or gymnasium in the city
\nMust get off their e-bike on trails less than 5 feet wide when they\u2019re within 50 feet of a pedestrian<\/p>\n
\nAs the use of e-bikes has increased in Carlsbad over the past few years, so have the number of accidents.
\nThere were 186 traffic collisions involving bicycles or e-bikes between January 2019 and December 2021. In 163 of those accidents, one or more people were injured.
\nThe City Council, Carlsbad Police, city staff and community members have all observed people riding e-bikes unsafely or violating traffic laws and have raised concerns about the impact on public safety.
\nThe updated ordinance gives the city more latitude to prohibit a broad range of careless behavior on e-bikes.
\nIt also allows the city to be in charge of enforcement rather than referring all cases for prosecution in court.
\nFor instance, the city could choose to offer a safety course to offenders instead of a citation and a court-ordered fine. The course may do more to impact future behavior, especially on younger riders who would have to complete it.<\/p>\n
\nThe City of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Police have implemented several other initiatives in the past few years to enhance e-bike safety, including several that are ongoing.
\nMore enforcement of traffic safety rules and vehicle code violations
\nCreated resources<\/strong><\/a> to explain laws governing e-bikes and provides safety tips
\nHosted and promoted e-bike safety webinars and classes
\nCreated public service announcements and social media campaigns promoting safety and the rules of the road
\nWorked with schools and the San Diego County Bike Coalition to promote bicycle and e-bike safety, including through free classes. The coalition\u2019s next virtual Smart Cycling class<\/strong><\/a>, which includes specific information on operating e-bikes, will be held April 5 and is free for all community members to attend.<\/p>\n
\nThe updated ordinance will come back to the City Council for final approval on April 5 and take effect May 5.
\nThe city will inform residents about the changes and continue to promote e-bike safety.<\/p>\n
\nCity\u2019s e-bike webpage<\/strong><\/a>
\nEbike rules of the road<\/strong><\/a>
\nSan Diego County Bike Coalition classes and events<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"